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Wednesday, April 20, 2011

This wonderful Etsy treasury is curated by Lauren Hanson of EPOCA ECLECTIC

Lauren is a vintage enthusiast, stylist, buyer, and designer who likes to hunt for treasures and collect them too. She grew up in a lovely historic town in Michigan, full of antique shops and charm. This has a major impact on her love for these great treasures.

GREEN TRACTOR HOOD SIDE TABLETHE STEEL FORK
Welcome! We create handmade & eco friendly farm tables and home decor- with a nod to the farm. You will also find our folk art metal sculptures made with recycled farm machinery.

RECYCLED SKATEBOARD BENCHDECKSTOOL
Recyclin' in the USA...
Broken skateboards are a byproduct of our culture usually destined for the landfill. The deckstool recycles this waste into a unique, heirloom quality piece of furniture.

WEEKLY PLANNING ECO FRIENDLY NOTEPADMODERMOTIVE
Hello. Welcome to modernemotive, an eco friendly stationery and design company. I specialize in greeting cards, notepads and other paper goods for the home and office using FSC Certified papers and other recycled materials.

CLOCK MADE FROM RECYCLED BIKE WHEELSTUFF MADE FROM STUFF
Hello and welcome to my shop on Etsy. Ever since I can remember, I have been taking things apart. Trying to figure out what makes them tick. One day I created a clock from a computer hard drive, and my life has never been the same since

RECYCLED HOSE CHAIRRIVERZEDGE ARTS PROJECT
RiverzEdge Arts Project is a social enterprise and youth development program giving educationally and economically disenfranchised youth (ages 12-24) in northern Rhode Island paid employment in the arts and a voice in the community

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Hannah Lynn and her business Hannah Lynn Art are located in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Hannah was raised in northern California and moved to Idaho about five years ago, with her husband and children.

OLIANA'S OTTER

Besides creating beautiful art and making it available to collectors worldwide Hannah Lynn loves to spend time with family. Some of her favorite activities include cooking, window shopping, going out to coffee with friends and singing. She says her favorite day is one where her whole family can get out of the house and have some fun eating out and shopping.

DOROTHY & TOTO: DREAMING ON THE FARM

Hannah Lynn has been an artist all her life. In elementary school she was always drawing and classmates would come to her to have her draw things for them. When Hannah was in seventh grade she was commissioned to do a colored pencil artwork of a Bald Eagle for a science teacher’s son. That was her first paid art job. At home Hannah was forever on the floor drawing and coloring. After high school Hannah’s art activities diminished as the responsibilities of working and living an adult life. She really had no idea that doing art could be a viable career path at that time. It wasn’t until late 2006 when she found herself working at home, raising two lovely little girls, and studying online, that she turned again to her art as an outlet and hobby. She got herself a supply of good quality art materials and began experimenting with them. She found that she was truly out of practice, but kept working on reorienting her to the materials and her drawing. She wanted to market some ideas she had and researched how best to present them. Artist Trading Cards (ATC’s, 2.5”x3.5”), which she discovered on eBay, caught her attention and she felt that they were a fun product and that they would be manageable given her family duties and study schedule. Hannah began marketing and selling the ATC’s on eBay and found herself quite busy keeping up with sales. That is when she realized that there was serious potential for a professional career in art.

MENDOCINO MERMAID

When asked what type of work she does Hannah replied that she does exactly what she wants to do. As far back in her portfolio as she can go, she has found that she created character art of cute girls, expressive eyes and fantasy creatures. Her art is considered to be fantasy because most of her subject matter is fairies and mermaids, but she says her style is a bit different. Hannah brings a light, fun and innocent flavor to her artwork; that is just what comes out when she works. Painting faces and hair are her favorite subjects. She does portrait work, in which she caricatures the subject with a style similar to her other character work. These works are offered as ‘Fantasy Portraits’ on her website.

SADIE'S DRAGON

Like many children, Hannah Lynn loved Walt Disney movies and artwork. When The Little Mermaid was released, she wanted to become a mermaid. She watched the movie over and over and drew, traced and colored Ariel. The release of Beauty & the Beast brought more inspiration for Hannah and she dreamed of being an artist for Disney Studios one day. This affinity for and love of character art is still with her today. It inspires her to share art with others that will make them feel the way she did when she was a child: that the world is a magical, fascinating place full of life, color, excitement and discoveries. Hannah says that art is all about how it makes you feel when you look at it. Nothing else really matters.

TREE OF SECRETS

Hannah’s art style and skill is totally self-taught. She has found her own methods and techniques through trial and error and lots of practice. She started out using watercolor pencils as they were inexpensive and easy to clean up. Also, if she needed to leave her work station to tend to her children’s needs at a moments notice, she knew she would not come back to dried up, wasted paint. Over time she upgraded to artist quality materials and was quite happy with the results. She was also getting many compliments on the work and surprise that she was achieving her results using watercolor. This made her realize that she had a winning combination of style, method and materials.

GLACIER LILY FAIRY

Over time Hannah’s work methods have evolved, but they are similar to other watercolor artists. She sketches a drawing in her sketch pad and if she likes it, she will either re-draw it right onto illustration board, or trace it with tracing paper if she really loves the proportions. She then goes over the lines with permanent waterproof ink and erases all pencil lines. She then uses watercolor pencils to color the inked drawing on the illustration board before adding wet brush strokes to blend and soften the colors. Sometimes she pulls color directly onto the wet brush and paints like a traditional watercolor artist would. Hannah says she always starts with the face and eyes. Though it happens very rarely, if those don’t come out right, she does not continue and waste time on the piece. Colors are chosen as Hannah works on a piece. She says she spends a lot of time simply staring at a partially finished piece with a furrowed brow considering which colors to use. It is ironic that color choice is the thing she struggles with most as this is one of the most heavily complimented areas of her work.

PRINTABLE CUSTOM INVITES BIRTHDAY GIRL

Because of the more commercial type of artwork Hannah creates, she has not participated in shows in traditional galleries. She is present on many online marketplaces such as DeviantArt.com, Zazzle.com, eBay.com and Etsy.com. She is also a member of The IndiExibit, a wonderful group of independent artists who market their art through celebrity gifting at Entertainment Award Shows. Hannah recently displayed a canvas print at the Kids Choice Awards 2011 and included a small gift package of her work in The IndiExibit celebrity gift bags. Although Hannah doesn’t teach art, she does share her knowledge with anyone who asks. She gets many emails from fans and other artists and she is always happy to share tips with them.

RUNAWAY PRINCESS

What will we see coming from Hannah’s ‘easel’ in the near future? Hannah says she is branching out with a new series called ‘Girls Around the World’. There will be 12 paintings of cute girls in their home countries featuring elements like the landscape and native animals. The first to be completed in this series will be Auzzie Girl from Australia, an adorable girl holding a koala bear in the Australian Outback. Some other countries she is considering are China, America, France, Brazil, England and Mexico amongst others. These designs will then be made available on products such as a 12 month calendar, post cards, collectible figurines and more.

ALICE LOST

Other planned works for the future include more storybook themed pieces, more steampunk style works, and of course more fairies and mermaids. Hannah says she has so many ideas in her journals and sketchbooks that she can rarely make promises as to what will strike her next.

STEAMPUNK GENEVIEVE FAIRY

Etsy is Hannah Lynn’s main sales platform. In her store there she offers original paintings, limited edition Artist Trading Cards, bookmarks, cameo necklaces, coloring packs, signed prints, gift tags, rubber stamps, and printable crafting items like digi stamps and collage sheets. Similar items are also available on eBay and on Hannah’s website. Hannah Lynn Art is licensed and available from other companies on products such as cross-stitch charts, rubber stamps, purses and digital tubes; and more products are on the way. She also has a wonderful shop set up on Zazzle.com where her art is offered on t-shirts, posters, stickers, greeting cards, US Postage, Keds Shoes, stationary, iPhone & iPad cases, keychains, magnets and more and many of these items are customizable.

VAMPIRE WOLF WINTER - MELISSA

In the future Hannah plans to travel and share her artwork at conventions and shows. For now she is focusing on creating new products and licensing her art. She participates in local art shows and she looks forward to seeing familiar faces as the season begins this spring.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Torrie’s full name is Mary Victoria Smiley. She has been ‘Torrie’ all her life and she now signs and certifies her artwork by that single name. Home for Torrie is Charlotte, North Carolina. She has two beautiful grown daughters and one granddaughter Audrey Grace. Torrie works full time at a local hospital and paints in her off time. Her children often tell her that her little ‘hobby’ has gotten totally out of control, but she is having the time of her life. Torrie’s partner Kevin is very supportive of her painting, offering generous praise and his critiques are always right which enables Torrie to produce even better work.

ROBIN'S THREE EGGS III

Torrie’s one true love is painting. When she is not painting, she is sewing, quilting or crocheting little things for her granddaughter. She also loves trying to grow flowers. Though she says she has left many dead plants in her wake, she has not given up. Torrie also likes to visit galleries and admire other artists work. She likes to see the brush strokes close up, something you can’t do when admiring work on the computer.

LEMON

Torrie has always wanted to be an artist, but was not able to pursue that path. In 2002, at 43 years of age and her children grown, she decided to follow her dream. Torrie checked out every book in the library she could to learn how to use painting supplies and started painting what was in her head. As she was a single mother on a tight budget, she began selling her paintings on eBay in November 2005 in order to support her “addiction to painting”. Torrie has since sold over 500 paintings and the painting obsession continues.

THE OLD RED BOAT 2011

Torrie’s paintings are usually simple in composition and her goal is to create something pleasing to the eye that may make you smile. She says she is not into the deep, thought-provoking, controversial subjects. Torrie says she is not ashamed to say that she creates wall art to compliment your home.

THE SWAN IV

The material that Torrie started with and still uses most of the time is acrylic paint. She chose acrylic for it’s fast drying time and she felt that would not give her children the chance to mess with it. When she began using oil paint, she found that she tended to be covered in the project before she was finished, so she came to the conclusion that perhaps it was she who was messy. The oil paints she uses are water based to reduce the fumes from the chemicals in regular oil paint. Torrie also dabbles in watercolors and pastels. Pastels are used mainly for portraits of her family and friends. She likes all these mediums but in the end she uses the one that best suits the idea floating in her head.

FLOW BLUE POMEGRANATE

Torrie says her style is what she ends up with when she is trying to do something else. She has a lot of happy accidents. Because she is not formally trained, she pretty much dives in head first not knowing whether or not it will work. She thinks you could call her work Impressionism, or Realism that is just a bit too colorful and sometimes slanted in the wrong direction.

THE GREEN BOAT AT GIVERNY

Everything inspires Torrie. She is always pointing things out to Kevin and exclaiming at the wonderful colors, though he doesn’t seem to see them as richly colored as she does. She is also very much inspired by light and it’s effects on even the simplest objects. She says she still has not mastered getting the light she sees onto canvas, but that trying to get it right is so much fun.

THE GLASS BIRDS

Torrie is primarily a self-taught artist. Her formal art education consists of a couple of workshops she took to see if she was using the materials correctly. Although she would love to take formal classes, there is currently no time to do so. She does plan to do this in the future. Torrie watches videos by different artists to see how they have developed their craft. She says the artists who share their technique on YouTube are her heros and she has learned so much by watching them.

Though she doesn’t teach painting, and doesn’t think she will ever feel qualified to teach, Torrie does love sharing what she does given the opportunity. Mainly she has helped other artists with blogging, social networking and website setups.

THE PEAR CHRONICLES 009

Currently Torrie is getting ready to show her work at WSOC-TV studio in Charlotte, North Carolina, the local ABC affiliate station. She will be hanging large pieces, which is something she doesn’t normally do. The paintings for the show range from 8inches x 10inches to 30inches x 40inches. She says it has been a challenge working in the larger scale since she normally paints ‘alla prima’. (in one session without time for the paint to dry) Taking several days or weeks to finish a painting is quite unusual for Torrie.

HARVEST MOON

Once that show is over, some of the paintings from the show will be available for purchase in Torrie’s online stores. Recently Torrie has started working on her landscape painting skills. So a variety of small landscape paintings will be posted online in the coming weeks. Pears will continue to be a theme in Torrie’s work as they are her favorite things to paint. As well, Torry has a list of wonderful customers who are patiently waiting for her to complete her exhibition, and then get back to work on their individual requests.

THE BIG RED PEAR

Torrie joined EBSQ Art in November 2005. She also began selling her paintings on eBay at that time. Currently she sells her paintings internationally at several websites including her Website Gallery and her ETSY store. Her work is also available for purchase on a number of other sites and blogs as well. Torrie’s work is collected throughout the United States, Europe, Canada and Australia.